“LAWRENCE: Career academies to open at Lawrence High School” |
| LAWRENCE: Career academies to open at Lawrence High School Posted: 22 Feb 2011 11:11 PM PST Some Lawrence High School students have already decided that they want to be a police officer, a soldier or sailor, a computer programmer, or an astronaut. For the rest, there are LHS's new career academies — the Academy of Arts and Humanities, the Academy of Business and International Studies and the Academy of Science and Technology — which are poised to take off in the 2011-12 school year. Beginning next month, sophomores may begin signing up for one of the career academies. A student must remain in a career academy for one year, but may switch from one academy to another for the next school year. While enrollment in a career academy is not mandatory, the goal of the academies is to expose students to potential careers while they are also taking college-preparatory courses, according to school district officials. The career academies, which are open to juniors and seniors, will offer a thematic unit of experiences in a career that a student enrolled in the regular high school curriculum likely would not get, said LHS Principal David Roman. There will be time for internships and community experiences, he said. Chiara Shah, the LHS teacher who will lead the Academy of Science and Technology, agreed that one of the goals of the career academy is to help a student determine whether a particular career is the right one for him or her. "We hope that before a student goes to college, he or she will have a better understanding of what's out there," Ms. Shah said. "There will be new careers. The student will be more focused — 'I don't want to go into business, I've changed my mind and I know where I want to go.'" Students enrolled in the career academies must take language arts, mathematics, science, social studies and health, safety and physical education courses which are required by state law, but they also have a chance to take special elective courses offered in the academy. In the Academy of Arts and Humanities, students may take electives in the performing arts such as concert band or wind ensemble. Multimedia arts offerings include introduction to photography, graphic arts and radio and television production. The humanities courses include criminal law, sociology, macro- and microeconomics and promising teachers of tomorrow. The Academy of Business and International Studies offers courses such as computer applications and entrepreneurship in the business education specialization, and early childhood development and fashion design in the family and consumer sciences specialty. World languages — from American sign language to Mandarin Chinese and Spanish — are offered. The Academy of Science and Technology offers math and science courses, as well as computer science, applied engineering and architecture. Anatomy and physiology are offered in the health science specialty. A career academy also results in a smaller learning community, said LHS language arts teacher Jill Vaughn, who will lead the Academy of Arts and Humanities. Research has shown that small learning communities help students to succeed academically, she said. "One aspect that makes the academies cool is the 'senior experience,'" Ms. Vaughn said. "Every student in the academies will have a job experience and community service. They can do college level work and independent study. This ties into the personalization (of the educational experience)." Ms. Shah, who will lead the Academy of Science and Technology, agreed that the academies will foster a personalized educational experience. She said that while all students will take the state-mandated courses for high school graduation, a language arts course in the science and technology academy might be geared toward helping a student learn how to read a research study. Jeff Rick, the LHS business education teacher who will lead the Academy of Business and International Studies, added that while the academies are set up to prepare all students for college, those students who do not go on to college will have gained experiences in addition to a high school diploma. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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